- February 2025Group begins laundering activity in Poland, per prosecutors
- July 2026Group's activity ends, per prosecutors
- 19 OctABW, Border Guard and CBZC announce nine detentions
Nine arrests across three regions
The Internal Security Agency (ABW), the Border Guard and the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime (CBZC) carried out the operation, which the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Łódź supervises. Officers detained nine people in Łódź, Warsaw and the Małopolska region, and prosecutors say the group handled transactions worth more than 337 million zł. The money came from investment and cryptocurrency fraud and other online scams. Prosecutors say the group was led by a 34-year-old Ukrainian citizen who made the key decisions and supervised the flow of money in Poland and abroad. According to the Border Guard, the detainees include eight Ukrainian citizens, three women and five men, and one Belarusian woman. The prosecutor's office says the nine are aged between 26 and 53.
- Cashiers
- 4 people
- Exchange office managers
- 3 people
- Couriers
- 2 people
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How the network operated
Prosecutors say the suspects took steps to hide where the funds came from. Couriers collected cash at agreed points and recognised one another by a photo of a banknote torn in half, showing a specific serial number. A courier and a cashier then received a secret code by phone, and when the numbers matched, the money went through an exchange office. Spokesman Krzysztof Kopania told PAP how the exchange offices handled the cash.
“Money derived from the crime was accepted into exchange offices, bypassing AML procedures.”
The scheme also used cash deposit points to pay money into bank accounts, which was then transferred to linked accounts. Cash was smuggled abroad in specially prepared car compartments, and fictitious gold purchases were part of the cover. Most of the funds were ultimately placed in cryptocurrencies. The inflows came from BLIK payment fraud, from criminals posing as bank employees and from fake investment platform representatives. Prosecutors say the group operated from February 2025 to July 2026.
Custody, charges and political reaction
On the prosecutor's motion, a court remanded seven suspects in custody, six for three months and one for two months. The other two were released on property bail, placed under police supervision and barred from leaving the country. All nine have been charged with taking part in a criminal group and money laundering. Some of the suspects face an additional charge of failing to report suspicious transactions to the General Inspector of Financial Information (GIIF). Suspects face up to 15 years in prison. Officers seized gold and cash worth over 1 million zł, along with computers, phones and data carriers.
- Custody, three months
- 6 people
- Custody, two months
- 1 people
- Property bail, police supervision and travel ban
- 2 people
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Deputy Sejm Speaker Krzysztof Bosak reacted on X, saying that an RMF FM report had left out that all those detained are immigrants. The co-leader of Konfederacja also asked where the laundered hundreds of millions went, and guessed the real estate market.